Payment of corporate taxes has been made a cakewalk in Orissa. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched e payment service for payment of corporate taxes in the state with the combine d effort of the State Bank of India through its Corporate Internet Banking Portal.

Through this facility, traders will be able to pay their sales tax, VAT, CST, professional tax, entry tax and entertainment tax online.

The chief minister inaugurated this facility as a part of the citizen- centric services in the State. While addressing the public on this occasion, he said that this step will go a long way in the process of implementation of e-governance in tax administration procedures of the State. He said that the Commercial Taxes department in full fledged process to introduce e-filing of return, e-registration, e-generation of statutory forms and e-refund through its own portal in near future.

"This is a precursor to a host of e-services to be launched shortly," he said.

The customer will be now relieved from the hassles of filling paper challans or using drafts and cheques for payment. The traders can now make payments either through their own account or through any other branch in the State and can receive an e-receipt instantly.

Those customers who are enabled for the SBI connect facility will be able to make payments by simply logging in to their accounts. Those who are not availing this facility will have to go to their nearest branch wherein they will be enabled with the e-tax facility.

The CM also added that this process will aid in ensuring transparency in the system at all levels.

"The e-payment is set to be a big hit just like the e-tenders we had introduced earlier. Apprehensions that contractors of the state might not migrate to the new procedures proved wrong. It has become a huge success and our contractors are tech savvy now," said state finance minister Praffula Ghadei.

Principal Secretary in the Finance Department Jugal Kishore Mohapatra said that 60 per cent of the total revenue of the State is comprised of commercial tax and the e-payment facility will be extended to other revenue earning departments in phases.

Marking the occasion, the Navaratna PSU National Aluminum Company Limited (NALCO) made a token payment of Rs one crore.

As a demonstration of the facility, SBI proceeded with an online payment facility where Nalco and Sukam Power System Limited paid tax online and the e-challan printed on the spot was delivered to their representatives by the Chief Minister.